Brussels, 17/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - Oral arguments were heard on Tuesday 16 June in a number of cases relating to access submitted to the Court by the European Commission as part of proceedings. These were in three appeals lodged by the Commission, which invokes a number of exceptions to Regulation (EC) No. 1049/2001 which seeks to increase access by the public to Community institution documents.
In case C-28/08P, the Commission is challenging the Court ruling against it for refusing to reveal who took part in a meeting convened by DG Internal Market and Financial Services in 1996. Following that meeting, brewer Bavarian Lager was denied access to the UK market. The Commission justifies it refusal to inform the brewer of the identities of those present, despite its express request, on grounds of data protection. Should it be for the person/company requesting access to information to demonstrate the interest in making this information public (as the Commission argues) or, on the other hand, should access be guaranteed unless there is proof that revelation will harm the individuals concerned (position of Bavarian Lager, and, in this instance, the Court, see EUROPE 9540)?
Case C-139/07 concerns documents relating to state aid procedure, and joined cases C-514/07P, C-528/07P and C-532/07P concern access by the Association de la presse internationale to documents lodged by the Commission in a number of judicial proceedings.
Amendments to the regulation. A proposal amending Regulation 1041/2001 is currently going through the co-decision procedure (Parliament made its amendments in March of this year, text T6-0114/2009). These changes consist mainly of defining more closely the provisions of the regulation. Some concrete amendments are also under consideration, namely, consideration of any information on emissions into the environment as information of public interest; information on the award of public contracts, however, will be exempted from the rule to ensure confidentiality. All documents relating to the legislative procedure must also be made available to the public, without there having to be a request made to the institutions. (C.D./transl.rt)